There and Back Again: A Mortal's Tale
by MissyBecca
Summary: A story about a hospital intern whose first case is to diagnose a strange man with pointed ears, only to find herself falling into a world that is everthing she has ever dreamed, in her nightmares at least. Leg/OC. rating may change in future chapters.
1. Prologue

**There and Back Again: A Mortal's Tale**

Hello again readers! I know that I have not updated in so long, that you were probably ready to give up on me... well I am back :) This is a completely revamped version of There and Back Again: A Mortal's Tale, although I loved the first version it was not going as well as I had hoped and (in my opinion) this version is much better. Not too much has changed, so don't worry, but I would definitally suggest reading every chapter again so you can get the full effect of my hard work. I have tried to mature my writing style and take more time editing, so please enjoy and let me know what you think about this new story. I love you all, please forgive me for the dely.

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Prologue:

The world had grown dark and still, like floating in a pond of ink or gazing at a starless sky. I drifted in this limbo where time had no meaning, days become seconds and second flow into days, all the while my mind flickers like a candle. The darkness shifts as a vortex of stars appear before me, I can hear twinkling whispers and it is as if the stars themselves were speaking to me. In my desperate attempt to understand the musical voices my eyes force themselves open sending me from my peaceful solitude right into hell. My walls, which used to be painted the soft pink I insisted on as a 10 year old and now resented at my 18 years, now blazed red and orange with fire. My beautiful cherry desk and cherished vanity were now only fuel for the fire that was slowly making its way over to my single bed. My mind screamed for me to take action, but no matter how hard I tried my body would not cooperate. I opened my mouth to scream when something caught my eye, a mirror.

At this point I was almost certain this was a dream, not only because I knew that this mirror had absolutely no business being in my room, but also because its appearance was something that could only exist in my imagination. The elaborate oval frame, which seemed to be made of a silver metal, had strange inscriptions on it in a language I had never seen before. The glass itself was even more baffling, at first it looked as smooth and hard as diamond but with a simple tilt of your head the pane seemed to turn into a rippling pond.

I was mesmerized by this strange mirror and slowly all thoughts of the fire left my head, all I could see was the glass changing from water to rock, water to rock, water to…a ring? Out of the waters of the mirror came a ring, insignificant it seemed for it was a simple gold band, but I could not keep my eyes off of it. Then it spoke, softly at first and then the chanting became louder.

"_Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."_

The intensity of the chanting increased until it seemed that the voice was right inside my head, the ring drew closer to me. It was not until my body was just inches from the mirror that I realized it was me that had been moving towards the mirror. I had no control over my body as my hand reached to touch the glass in frount of me, all the while that terrible voice pounded through my skull. My hand reached the plane of glass only to have it give way under the light pressure of my fingers, allowing my hand to pass right through creating ripples like a pond. I could almost touch the ring, a few more inches and it would be mine. This idea excited me in ways I knew it should not but still I strained for it, I could not stop myself now. Finally my fingers brushed the cool metal surface of the brilliant ring, and suddenly there was light and heat. It seemed as if the whole mirror had burst into flames, so bright and real that I could feel the heat blister my skin. Even as I continued to burn I could not retreat to safety and watched helplessly as the reflection changed once again to show a black tower in a land of fire. The land was completely bare of all things living except for the thousands of foul creatures that I could only define as demons and the active volcano in the distance. My attention was once again diverted as my gaze moved up to the summit of the great tower; and there, piecing me with its flaming gaze, was a great eye. It was only then that I found the will to scream.

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**Please review lovely readers!! i need to know what you think. **

**Love: MissyBecca**


	2. Chapter 1

Again, ALL chapters have been severly edited so please read them ALL over again... love you :)

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Chapter 1: And so it Begins

I could not believe this, the night before my first day at a new hospital and I could not fall asleep. It was all because of that stupid dream, I wake up screaming and then I am afraid to be in my room or in the dark for that matter. What was the matter with me, was I really so pathetic that I was scared of a giant eyeball? So here I was sitting in my living room with all my lights on and a cup of that disgusting herbal tea that my mother insisted would help me sleep, and as usual it is not helping in the least. Great, now I was going to go to my first day at work and fall asleep right in the middle of a surgery! Of course that would probably make a lot of people happy if the new girl from a big Toronto hospital messes up her first surgery at a small town Bracebridge hospital.

Have you ever noticed that whenever you don't want something to happen, it always happens? This is the only rational thought that passed my head since I arrived at the hospital at 5:00 a.m. this morning, of course I was wide awake while I was getting ready, and on the drive over, and as became acquainted with the nurses. The minute the resident assigned to welcome me opened her mouth, however, I was doomed. Mary Johnson, possibly the most boring human being on this planet, was in what looked to be her late 50's with greying hair pulled in a too tight bun, her white lab coat was decorate with buttons that read "best nurse" which I imagine she must have stolen. As Mary drowned on I allowed myself to examine the hospital, of course I had been here before, but it is different when you are working. The hospital was blinding white and smelled of sanitizer, exactly how I remember it from when I broke my arm in 6th grade. I grew up in this town and didn't leave until I went off to university and got an amazing job down in Toronto for a couple years. In the end, I had decided to come back to Bracebridge and try working at a smaller hospital, my mother insisted that it would give me a chance to perfect my bedside manner.

"And this, Ms. Galen, is our psychiatric war and your new station. The chief of staff seemed to be impressed with your work experience as a surgeon, but I think it would be better for everyone if you started in psyche, so you can learn some bed side manner." Mary's condescending tone was just about to sever my last nerve. I was a surgeon for god's sake, I was supposed to come here and save lives, not talk about feelings. Just as I was about to inform Mary about all the things that were wrong with her last sentence, a group of men crashed through the double doors.

A mob of police and doctors came storming through the hallway with a struggling, screaming man. The doctors were trying to calm him down and administer sedatives, while the six police officers tried to hold him still. Still he thrashed and called out in a strange, musical language I had never heard before.

"Aragorn, Gimli"

It was then that Mary finally seemed to take notice that they were trying to get this obviously distressed man into a room, and she quickly went to go open a door to a private room. It took all six officers and every doctor that was in hearing distance to drag him into the hospital room. I walked closer to the door and saw them wrestle him to the bed and attempt to get the restraints around his arms. Just as they got one around his right wrist, his left fist made contact with the side of one doctor's face, knocking him right off his feet. Eventually, though not without a very valiant fight on the patients behalf, the restraints were in place and a very large dose of sedative was administered. Throughout the battle interns, residences, and other patients had stared, mouths agape, until Mary called us back to order.

"Well" she addressed the shocked interns in her droning voice "now you know what goes on in an emergency situation, that patient is very dangerous but will be under a sedative most of the time so he will be watched over by one of you. We residencies don't have all the time in the world to babysit you know."

I snickered. I couldn't help it, and I mean really, she didn't have enough time to look after a patient but she had time to take me on a 4 hour tour of an elementary school sized hospital? Unfortunately, Mary did not see the humour in it.

"Oh, and what is so funny? You think this job is a joke, well then I guess we know who out new babysitter is. I hope you have fun dear, you start tomorrow. Be here at 6 o'clock in the morning; make sure you are not late."

As I was saying, you know how everything you don't want to happen just goes and happens anyway? Well in one day I went from being a promising surgeon at a new hospital, to being a full time babysitter of a comatose, foreign, violent, and probably mentally unstable man. Perfect.

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**R&R please **


	3. Chapter 2

Keep reading loyal readers, still a couple more chapters to go...

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Chapter 2: Routine

Last night I had stumbled home in a daze, I hardly remember driving home never mind how I managed to drag myself to my bedroom and fall onto my bed. I woke up this morning to the sound of the beeper on my alarm clock; still in my work clothes and with my light on, it seemed that I also fell into my sleep induced coma before I brushed my teeth, gross. I rolled off the bed and walked heavily to the attached bathroom. My parents were doing pretty well in the money department and had bought me this cute little bungalow as a graduation present; they were always so proud of their daughter that was going to become a doctor. The truth is I graduated when I was 22, because I had skipped grade 6 and 7 as well as grade 9. This was partly because I was a good student and partly because my dad influence at my elementary school. When I arrived at the bathroom I did a double take, was that really me in the mirror. I looked like I had just come back from the biggest party of the year; my walnut coloured hair, which usually fell 2 inches below my shoulders in ringlets, now looked like a frizzy mess. My hazel eyes were blood shot from lack of sleep and my makeup from yesterday was streaked in places. I ran for the shower.

After a long, hot shower I headed back to my room wrapped in a towel. My room was a fair size, big enough for my desk, double bed, dresser and my old vanity that I just couldn't bare to part with. The general theme of the room was dark wood furniture and my walls were painted a light purple. As I walked past my end table I noticed the time, 5:30 okay so I still have… HALF AN HOUR! I ran to my closet and frantically yanked on my extra pair of work clothes, looking in the mirror I pulled my hair into a high ponytail and brushed on some mascara. I looked over to my full length mirror, I looked presentable and I still had 15 minutes to get to work, I can do this, I can do this.

Oh my god I can't do this, I am going to be late and Mary is going to put me on coma duty for the rest of my life! I looked out into the line of traffic in frount of me as my heart sunk; I had five minutes to get to work. In all of the years I have been working while I was at school I have never been late, and now I was going to be late on the first official day of at the new hospital. The only silver lining was that I was in Bracebridge, the town I lived in as a child, and not a big city. There was no other choice; I decided as I pulled over to the nearest parking spot, I would have to walk. After five minutes of jogging and a short cut through a bush I was at the hospital, a little worse for wear but at least I was there and only a few minutes late.

I walked through the doors and with Mary no where in sight I set out to room 105, my patient's room. I made it all to the door when I saw her on the other side of the hallway, but at least Mary was looking the other way. Using all the stealth I had accumulated from years of sneaking in after curfew, I tip toed over to the room opened the door, promptly tripped over my own foot and crashing face first to the floor. Thank god this guy is still sedated or this would be really embarrassing. I got off the floor with a grunt, and possibly a few choice words that would make my mothers face lose its colour, and then went to check the clip board that would have my instructions for the day. On the top of the page read John Doe, code word for we have no idea who this guy is, it looks like they couldn't even keep him lucid long enough to get his name. Great, that meant that he was too dangerous to be awake for one second, note to self: make sure you always have him on the right amount of sedatives.

As I continued to read the rest of the patient's stats, I felt the back of my head tingle with a feeling that I was being watched. I knew that it was stupid because I was in the room with a man who was on such a high dose of sedatives that he should not be waking up until next year, but still I couldn't shake it. Slowly I turned around and looked at the bed, only to find that staring back at me were a pair of brilliant blue eyes. All my breath escaped my as I slammed myself into the far wall and stared back open mouthed. It was only then that I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the lights or open the shades, and now his eyes seemed to glow in the dark. I waited for a good 5 minutes, but still he did not move or even blink for that matter. He did not seem to be staring at me, but at something just past me and his eyes were unfocused. I stood absolutely still for a few more minutes before I had the courage to move my lips.

"Sir, are you alright?" my voice quivered a little more than I would have liked.

There was no answer not even a twitch of acknowledgement from the strange man in the bed, he just continued to stare straight ahead. Then it hit me, he was dead. Oh my gosh, I knew the sedative was too high, stupid me for not saying anything! I walked up to the side of his bed and looked down at his face, I was stunned. This was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, he had strong angular features that were softened but his smooth pale skin. His pin straight hair was even longer than mine and appeared to be the colour a silver moon in the dark; it looked so soft, I wondered if I could touch it. What was I doing, this guy might be dead and I am just sitting here oogling! I am a professional god dammit; I do not oogle at dead patients! I snapped myself out of my trance and checked his pulse, yep still there, breathing, yes still breathing. Okay then what the hell was going on, was he brain dead, ignoring me maybe? I had to find Mary.

I ran down the hallway in vain, where was that woman when you actually wanted to see her? My patient could very well be mentally damaged beyond repair and I can't do anything about it because I do not deal with coma people I deal with injured people that I can cut open and… oh, there she is.

"Mary! I think there is something very wrong with my John Doe, he is not responding to any reaction tests and he just keeps staring at the goddamn ceiling and…"

"You think I don't know about this already? I have already been into check on him and the doctor confirmed that he is fine. Besides, there are a lot of things that don't make sense about this one, follow me and I will fill you in." Mary replied in a voice that reminded me of a bored tour guide; well excuse me for not realising that this guy was a freak of nature, I'll be sure to read the minds of the doctors before I ask next time.

I waited impatiently for Mary to grab her check list with her patients on it, as well as the updated stats for my patient, which she had conveniently forgot to put in the room before I arrived. Just as I was starting to wonder if maybe she was taking so long in hopes that my patient would die before we got there, she started walking to his door. She walked in the door and barely seemed to notice that "John" was still staring at the ceiling, when was she planning on telling me what the hell was going on?

"He first opened his eyes about 30 minutes after we administered the sedative, you can imagine our surprise, but since he has not moved or even blinked since then, the doctors assume it is his way of sleeping." Mary explained as if talking to a 3 year old, "There are many things we don't understand about this patient, and anything you are told is not to be repeated to anyone, understand?"

"Yes, I understand" my excitement was building by the second, what was the big secret, did he have some kind of rare disease that was just discovered? Was I going to be famous for taking care of him?

"Why don't you come over here and take a look at his ears." Mary suggested with a strange look on her face. I walked over cautiously; I was still uncomfortable around his unwavering stare. I very gently moved his hair away from his ear, not before noticing that it was impossibly soft and silky, and then froze. His ear looked normal at the lobe, but as you traveled up it came to a defined point at the tip. The strangest part was that it did not seem strange at all on his face, but like it simply added to his beauty making him unearthly. Was this some kind of strange plastic surgery, or maybe this was part of his mysterious 'disease' that involved silky hair, pointed ears and sleeping with your eyes open. As if reading my mind, Mary spoke up.

"We had a plastic surgeon come in and look at them, they haven't been altered at all, it seems they are completely natural. His other tests have shown strange results as well, it is as if he is not even human."

It wasn't until then that I noticed that my head had moved so close that my nose was almost touching his cheek. Embarrassed I pulled back quickly, and turned to Mary with a thousand questions in my mind, only to find she had left the room. How was I supposed to treat a patient when I had no idea what was wrong with him, or if he was even human? This was silly of course he was human, Mary is just joking, and the hospital would never leave a brand new resident in charge of an alien. In fact, I bet those ears are a birth mutation, or even a break through in plastic surgery. To reassure myself, and partly out of curiosity, I reached out my hand once more to touch the point of his ears. That was strange, they felt so real, but I bet if I pinch a little I would feel the plastic. Faster than I could blink, a hand grabbed my wrist with a grip of steel; I felt all my breath leave my body and my face drained of colour. I gazed down to find two enraged blue eyes staring back at me.

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Well, what do you think so far? Do you like this new version?Please let me know..... REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 3

Please read: I will not be posting a brand new chapter just yet, to encourage readers to read the edited chapters first, but beleive me there is a new chapter in the works and I hope to be more frequent in my updates from now on. Thank you for your support.

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Chapter 3: Legolas

We stayed frozen in this position, during which I had the time to decide he was most certainly not human. It was not the extraordinarily strong grip on my arm, or his pointed ears that had become much more noticeable in our new position; no it was his eyes that convinced me. As I stared into them it was as if I was looking into another world, they were such a deep blue and seemed to blaze as if there was an undying white flame flickering behind them. I could clearly see the warning in his eyes and tried to remember that he was dangerous, but still I could not look away. A similar situation with a mirror filled with fire flashed in my mind, causing me to gasp and turn away.

He seemed to realize that I was frightened and released my hand, though his body was tensed and his eyes never left my face. Finally, my medical training kicked in, forcing me to gather my wits and compose myself. Once I was sure that my face had arranged itself into an expression that resembled calm and collective, I turned to meet his gaze.

"Hello, my name is Rebecca Galen you are in the Bracebridge hospital and I am your assigned resident. How are you feeling? Can I get you something to drink?" I asked as I plastered on a professional smile and began inching towards the door, I really had to get out of here while he was still under control.

Though I was still pinned under his intense stare, I found it a little easier to function after I spoke, which is why I noticed his change in demeanour. His pale eyebrows drew together slightly causing barely noticeable lines to appear on his otherwise flawless skin, and his lips pressed together. His whole body tensed and shifted towards the door, and then he noticed the restraints. His gaze went to his wrists, and then lifted to meet my eyes once more; I had never been so afraid in my life. His whole body seemed to emit a strange glow and his eyes had hardened, and if I had any doubts before they vanished, this man was dangerous.

"_Legolas Thranduillion eneth nîn"_ his voice echoed through the room and was laced with barely restrained anger. When I did not answer he sighed and continued in his melodic language.

"_Heniach nin?"_ This time his voice came with less anger, and he seemed to search my face for any indication of comprehension. When, again, I did not answer he lifted his chin and an air of authority and command enveloped his form; it was as if he had transformed into a king or some other equally supreme being. Suddenly I felt inferior and timid in his presence, and could not help but to lower my gaze to the floor.

"I am very sorry, but I don't know your language." Despite my best efforts my voice sounded weak and apologetic. As a peace offering I decided I would get him some water, and moved slowly to the water cooler in the corner of the room. Although I could not bring myself to look at him again, I could feel his eyes following my every move. The cup was about half full when I heard a snap, then another. I turned my head slowly, not wanting him to know I was checking on him, the first thing I learned about patients is that they need to trust you. Unfortunately, it seemed my patient was not worthy of trust for his bed was empty. As I whirled around I found him standing tall in the center of the room, about 10 feet away with his head held high and his arms crossed over his chest, as if he was daring me to retaliate. Instead I stood very still and took calming breaths as I assessed the situation. He stood in a hospital gown and pants, which was a strange contrast to his supernatural beauty. It was obvious that I would not be getting him back on that bed without his consent, so I decided to move to the defensive.

Holding my other hand up in a surrendering position, I held out the cup of water and took a slow step forward. He narrowed his eyes slightly at my sudden movement, but other than that his remained a perfect statue. When I went to take another step, however, his jaw clenched and I could tell that I was not going to get much further. Instead I held the cup straight out in front of me, hoping he would understand the gesture as one of peace. He continued to stare down at me and I back at him; we were at a stand off, both waiting to see who would make the first move. After a few moments my arm became sore and started to shake, as determined as I was, I could not hold my arm up much longer. By the time his jaw slackened and his arms fell to his sides, my arm was shaking so fiercely that the water threatened to spill out. Just as he moved to step towards me, the door swung open.

"Rebecca, dear, just come over here slowly." whispered a white faced Mary. It was obvious that she thought the dangerous patient was intent on hurting me, but as I opened my mouth to speak two doctors entered the room. In their hands were syringes filled with what looked like a heavy dose of narcotic. As they neared John Doe, his body tensed once again and he took a small step back. All the progress I had made would be lost if they sedated him now.

"I told you the restraints weren't strong enough" one doctor hissed between his teeth.

"It's alright Rebecca; you don't have to be afraid. Just come over here and we can go grab a cup of coffee." Mary's voice sounded as if she was trying to sooth me, and she gestured to the door.

"Wait, he didn't break the restraints, I took them off. He was calm and well behaved so I let him stretch his legs a little." I lied as I took step to put myself slightly in between my patient and the needle wielding doctors. They stared at me for a minute, probably questioning my sanity, until Mary spoke.

"Ms. Galen, did you not understand what I meant when I said this patient was dangerous?" her voice as low and full of malice.

"No, I understood, but he was very well behaved since he woke up and I thought that if our patient was calm we were supposed to gain their trust. Strapping him to the bed was obviously not going to encourage him to cooperate, so I thought I would try something else, he is my patient after all." My voice came out surprisingly calm and professional, and when I saw the doctors nod their heads in agreement I knew I had won.

"If what you say is true, and he has changed his behaviour that much then I am truly impressed Ms. Galen. As long as you can handle it, I think it would be very beneficial if the patient was left unbound. He doesn't seem to understand our language so he has to learn that we want to help him through our body language." After the one doctor finished speaking, the other nodded his head and they left the room, leaving Mary, my patient and myself in the room.

"It seems you managed to worm your way out of that situation pretty easily, but don't get used to it today just seems to be your lucky day." Mary's voice was icy, but her fear of the man in the room showed in the way she inched towards the door. I couldn't help but let a smug smile show on my face before I spoke.

"Don't worry Mary, you can leave I wouldn't expect a resident like you to risk her life in the same room as such a _dangerous_ patient" by the end of my sentence my smile had grown wider as my voice was distorted with sarcasm. With a loud huff and a couple of poorly disguised curses Mary left the room.

So caught up in glow of victory and the praise of my peers, I had forgotten the cause of the confrontation. With a small satisfied smile still planted on my face, I turned to look at the man still standing at my side. He looked intently at my face for a while, as if trying to make sense of what just happened. When his eyes caught sight of my smile he slowly lifted an eyebrow in question and his eyes seemed to glow with mild amusement. Seeing this change in him caused me to laugh slightly in relief.

"Rebecca Galen" I said making sure to leave a pause between my first and last name and then pointed to myself. He stared down at me for a moment, and then raised his hand to press against his heart.

"Legolas Thranduillion" he replied.

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_Hen-ee-akh neen_? Do you understand me?

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**_Legolas Thranduil eneth nîn_- My name is Legolas Thranduillion.

Pretty please review, it gives me the will to write :)


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